Mural City: Zaspa Street Art in Gdańsk

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one and make a purchase, I might make a little extra spending money, at no extra cost to you. As always, all opinions are my own and these products/services have been found useful during our travels and come highly recommended to you from yours truly!

In my previous post about Gdańsk, I showed you how beautiful and colorful the city was, but that was only the beginning! When I knew we would be visiting Gdańsk, I told my friend who would be showing us around that if there was enough time, I absolutely had to see some of the interesting street art located near the city. She willingly obliged us with a quick tour of an area of Gdańsk called Zaspa – a residential district with large Soviet style apartment buildings with an empty canvas on each side of the building perfect for locals to express themselves on!

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Gdańsk Street Art in Zaspa

The first mural painted in the residential neighborhood of Zaspa went up in 1997 by Rafał Roskowińskiwhich depicts two of Poland’s most famous icons – Lech Wałęsa, the father of the Solidarity movement at the end of the 20th century which helped to end Communism in the country, as well as Pope John Paul II. The mural, along with 10 others were commissioned in honor of the 1000th birthday of the city of Gdańskand from there the street art scene in Gdańsk just exploded after the idea was revived in 2009 with the Monumental Art Festival. Today, the area is known as having the world’s largest amount of murals in a confined area and every year, about four new murals are added. Artists are invited from all over the world to come here and add a splash of color of otherwise rather dull looking Soviet style buildings.

Should you be interested in checking out the wall murals in Zaspa, then consider doing a guided walking tour with Murals Gdańsk Zaspa to discover the most interesting murals and learn about local legends and other stories, but these tours are only available during the summer. However, you can also download the PDF and wander through the neighborhood yourself. There are over 50 pieces so you’re definitely going to need to brace yourself for a lot of walking if you even remotely want to see them all!

In 2009, a platform was also set up called Gdańsk School of Muralwhich focuses on monumental wall murals which aims to restore and preserve the original meaning behind the murals. The origin of wall murals was in response to a recent event and had a socio-political background. The murals often depict an image or message to create “food for thought” and help spread the word about a certain message. The sheer size of the mural alone is enough to bring attention to an issue of importance. You can’t simply turn a blind eye.

First Impressions

Upon arrival, we found a parking spot and on the outskirts of the neighborhood and headed inside. While at first the apartment buildings may look just like any ole ordinary apartments, they quickly turned into absolute masterpieces as soon as we rounded each building. We didn’t have to look far before we started finding one after another. I was overwhelmed by the sheer height of these murals on the side of old 10-story apartment buildings. My first thought was, thank god for having a wide lens camera otherwise there would have been no way to capture the entire mural.

Just looking at the map though of where the Zaspa wall murals are located throughout the surrounding neighborhoods, I quickly realized there would be no way for me to see all of these in such a short amount of time. It pains me to say that we didn’t even see a fraction of all the murals. But I know, I will be returning later in 2018 and will definitely be adding more to this post, so stay tuned for that. However, what I did catch a glimpse of definitely whet my appetite for more!

How to Get to Zaspa

Although we drove, I did find that you can easily get to Zaspa within 10 minutes by city train (SKM) by going to the Gdańsk Wrzeszcz station which is on the eastern edge of the neighborhood or to Gdańsk Zaspa which brings you to the middle of the neighborhood.

If you’re interested in visiting Europe and are looking for more information, I highly recommend using the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Europe! Without these guides, I would be lost! This is my travel Bible as well as some of my favorite cook books and the Ultimate Foodie Book!!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one and make a purchase, I might make a little extra spending money, at no extra cost to you. As always, all opinions are my own and these products/services have been found useful during our travels and come highly recommended to you from yours truly!

This is really cool! The idea of taking a walking tour around the area is a good one. I would like to have a good understanding of the neighborhood and the artists who have worked there. The apartments complexes remind me of the public residential in Puerto Rico. This can use color (for sure). #WanderfulWednesday

Oh I love all of them! So colorful and beautiful. Were you able to figure out who the artists were for the specific murals? Or do you need to take the tour for that? Love it. Thanks for sharing with #FarawayFiles

You already know the highlight of my 2018 travel plans (auntiecake on IG) as I have been combing through your blog and IG pics since purchasing the tickets to Frankfurt! And finding you all over Pinterest also when I search for info on cities. You have been such an awesome resource, thanks. Just got back from the beach, and thanks to you we made several stops along the way to explore more. We were delighted at Hannibal, MO, boyhood town of Sam Clemens. Loved seeing inspiration for Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and a little slice of Americana. Also planning on a road trip to Canada this summer and who knows where else we will impromptly visit. So fun exploring! On road trips we get in the car and travel as fast as we can to our destination but learning to slow down a bit thanks to you!

So glad you enjoy the blog so much! Gives me such motivation to continue finding hidden gems! Sounds like you had a wonderful trip which I myself would love to do one day!! Canada also is high on my list! Have fun!!

And love that street art too. So cool, we love wandering around Montemarte for their street art (and awesome workout for your butt with all the hills) but this is even cooler. My list of places I want to see in real life has expanded greatly since finding you!

I love this project Lori. Sometimes Eastern Europe is portrayed as being quite bleak and devoid of colour (I must have been completely brainwashed by the Cold War 80s!) It must be so great to wake up and see this beautiful art as you step outside your door each morning. Thanks so much for sharing on #farawayfiles

I really enjoy reading your posts they are always so engaging; your photos capture the murals particularly well. I love discovering street art myself, while we were in Valencia we came across some fantastic pieces. #farawayfiles

Wow! Those are huge!! And so cool, too. What a fantastic treasure chest of street art. I have to agree with Katy’s comment – we were brainwashed during the Cold War to think that Eastern Europe was a bleak, cold blanket of grey. Even if that was true, I’m sure it’s changed through the years, and seeing these murals is really eye opening! One more thing to add to our list for Poland. Thanks for sharing! #TheWeeklyPostcard

I really like street art with bold, vivid colours like this! I’d definitely go for the guided walking tour as I like hearing about the backstories to these murals. Love how they often carry a political or social message – at least where I’ve seen them, not sure about in Poland!

wow, I always admire your journeys. It’s great that you can find such nice things in those buildings. We have many of them in the Czech Republic, but I’ve never seen this kind of art… #TheWeeklyPostcard

Street art seems to be on the rise lately. I see more and more places around the world displaying beautiful murals like these. I love the ones you photographed in Gdansk. They look absolutely fantastic! #TheWeeklyPostcard

I love street art and these take it to a whole different level. The sheer size and scale of it is so interesting and makes me wonder how they even managed to paint these. They’re all so well done and you captured the message and beauty of each of them well. Love how they repurposed otherwise blank walls of ordinary looking buildings. I’d love to do a walking tour and see these someday.

These are some seriously cool pieces of street art. I loved Gdansk when i visited but had no idea that this place existed! I like that it feels like there’s a consistent theme running through. For some reason that colourful geometric piece really catches my eye. Hard to compete with local knowledge am I right!

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Hi there! Guten Tag! My name is Lorelei, aka Lady Lolo, I’m an American expat living in Germany with a serious addiction to adorable half-timbered houses, fairy tale towns and castles. I may have an unwritten rule with my husband that at least once a month, we have to explore somewhere new to satisfy my restless feet syndrome!

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